The present invention relates to eyewear. More specifically, the present invention is directed to eyewear having hinged dual lens elements that provide a clear magnified wide field of view, while allowing the option of individually moving one or the other of the lenses away from a frontal viewing position of a particular eye that it covers to a raised position.
Eyewear is typically worn for a variety of reasons. As such, there exists a wide variety of eyewear types, each of which are specifically designed and intended for a particular use, environment or function. For example, a number of people use “reading glasses” to provide magnification of a subject such as text on a paper or other objects. There are certain activities in which it would be beneficial to have eyewear that provides a clear, magnified, wide field of view when performing other common activities. For example, a typical individual involved in the activity of applying facial makeup or otherwise interacting with their face, who would ordinarily use reading glasses, may have trouble performing such functions with the bare eye or even with a traditional pair of reading glasses.
In particular, when an individual is about to apply makeup to a certain region of the face and especially the area around one eye, it becomes necessary to remove their reading glasses thus recreating the visibility impairment that necessitated the use of the reading glasses in the first place. In another situation, an individual may not be able to view or focus on an image of their face when looking out of the corner of the eye, i.e. the temporal edge of their glasses. In yet another situation, where the individual is attempting to apply makeup to an area around the side burns and/or the ear, the individual would rotate their head in one direction and the eyes in the opposite direction so as to view the area of interest on the face. In this position, the individual also looses the magnification provided by traditional reading glasses and also has to contend with having the glasses/frame obstruct access to regions of the face. Most people who require corrective reading lens are unable to position their face as close as desired to a mirror because they are unable to properly focus on their image from such a position.
Thus, eyewear that provides a clear, magnified, wide field of view that would allow a person to view their image from a close range without encountering problems related to their uncorrected sight limitations is desirable. It is also desirable to have improved visibility even when a person has to apply make-up to an area around the eyes. Ordinarily, a complete loss of visual acuity is encountered when one goes to apply makeup around the eyes because it is usually necessary to remove any corrective eyewear in order to access the area of interest. It is therefore desirable to have a device and/or method that would enable one with impaired vision to have access to apply make up around the eyes without any obstruction or loss of visual acuity. The present invention addresses this need and overcomes the limitations of the prior art.